Many medical conditions often require medical treatment such as the regular administration of doses of medicaments. These medicaments are often provided as liquid solutions to be administered intravenously or trans-dermally. Diabetic patients, for example, may require several injections of insulin every day. Patients with chronic diseases may require frequent doses of a pain drug, etc. . . . Mostly, injection pen devices are used by these patients, because they allow an easier and more convenient administration of doses of medicament than with standard syringe and vial. Pen devices however require complex manipulations too, e.g. assembling a new needle every time, replacing a medicament vial when empty, and force the patient to make a new injection every time. This may cause various problems like possible contamination, uncomfortable and embarrassing situation in public place, sore body parts due to multiple injection points. In the attempt to make the life of these patients easier, infusion devices have been developed. The infusion devices known in the art typically comprise a storage device, such as a cartridge, a syringe, a reservoir, containing the liquid medicament, and use electro-mechanical pumping to deliver the medicament to the patient via tubing to a needle that is inserted through the skin. They typically comprise also all the elements needed for operation and control, e.g. a processor, electric components, a battery, buttons or switches located on the housing of the device, visual feedback via text or graphic screens, such as LCDs, etc. . . . . Such devices can be worn in a harness or pocket or strapped to the body of the patient. Currently available infusion devices are expensive, difficult to program and use and tend to be bulky and heavy. Filling these devices can be difficult and require specialized care, maintenance, and cleaning to assure proper functionality and safety for their intended long-term use. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,059 an infusion device is disclosed comprising an exit port, a dispenser for causing fluid from a reservoir to flow to the exit port, a local processor programmed to cause a flow of fluid to the exit port based on flow instructions from a separate, remote control device, and a wireless receiver connected to the local processor for receiving the flow instructions. This infusion device is provided with a housing that is free of user input components, such as a keypad or visual screen as these features have been transferred to a separate remote device thus reducing size and complexity of the infusion device. The infusion device, however, still retains all the electro-mechanical components, such as a driving motor, a processor, a battery to provide energy to be used for the medical treatment, and since it needs to be replaced after a few days, it appears to be a very expensive disposable.
In WO 02/068015 a system for the continuous delivery of a medicament is disclosed, the system including a disposable assembly having an exit port assembly and a metering portion of a dispenser for controlling fluid flow to the exit port assembly, and a reusable assembly having a control portion of the dispenser adapted to control the metering portion of the dispenser upon attachment of the reusable assembly and the disposable assembly, a local processor connected to the dispenser and programmed to cause fluid flow to the exit port assembly through the dispenser based upon flow instructions, and a local wireless communication element connected to the local processor for receiving flow instructions from a remote wireless device. The assemblies are adapted to be removably attached, and a power source is contained in the disposable assembly for providing power for the medical treatment to the reusable assembly upon attachment of the reusable assembly and the disposable assembly. Such a system is complex, large, indiscreet and expensive and it may be unsafe. WO 2005/018708 discloses a magnetically coupled implantable actuation system utilizing a magnetically coupled drive mechanism configured to transfer energy to an implantable medical device to be used for medical treatment, in this case for regulating the flow of a fluid. One variation comprises a drive magnet having a first radius and adapted to rotate about a longitudinal axis when urged, and a driven magnet defining a second radius, which is less than the first radius. This driven magnet is adapted to be implanted within a body and rotate about the longitudinal axis when coaxially positioned within a receiving cavity defined by the drive magnet such that magnetic coupling occurs circumferentially between the driven magnet and the drive magnet. An optional anchor can be used to secure the implanted driven magnet housing against any rotational forces or moments by securing the housing within the subcutaneous layer. This system is however unsafe since it is susceptible to external interferences, such as when in the presence of strong electromagnetic fields, which may cause unwanted rotation of the driven magnet.
WO 2010072010, which is incorporated herein by reference, solves some of the problems described above, by providing a system comprising a delivery device, which is small, comprises a minimum number of components, is easily manufactured, is thus cost-effective and may be disposable. Moreover, the system is safe to use and secure against possible interferences by means of a control unit, which can be activated only in a specific manner and thus eliminates the risk that medicament treatment is carried out when not required.